Sharon's adviser: PA asked to destroy Gush Katif

Ariel Sharon's confidant reveals that disengagement was preceded by dozens of hours of talks with PA.

Shimon Cohen, 02/02/16 14:59

Dov Weissglass

Eliran Aharon

Dov Weisslgass, Ariel Sharon's personal consultant and confidant, has revealed that the destruction of the communities in Gush Katif was requested by the Palestinian Authority and its head, Mahmoud Abbas.

During an interview with Army Radio, Weissglass explained that, contrary to the public feeling in Israel and around the world that the disengagement was carried out unilaterally, Israel spend dozens of hours in talks with the PA in order to determine how to carry out the action.

According to him, the initial plan called for leaving the houses in Gush Katif intact, but later Abbas asked Sharon to destroy the homes so that officials not under PA control could not make use of them.

Weissglass revealed this information as a response to reserve General Yom Tov Samia, who yesterday (Monday) told Army Radio that abandoning the Philadelphia Route in Gaza was completely unjustified. Samia claimed that he himself suggested to political officials that the route should be left in the hands of the IDF, and that thousands of buildings in Rafah should be evacuated in order to expand Israel's ability to control the route. He further thought that the residents of these buildings could move into the abandoned Jewish homes.

Samia said that such a move would have prevented Hamas's terror tunnels into Israel. He further claimed that his idea was shot down by Weissglass, among others.

In response, Weissglass claimed today that it was Abbas who demanded the Gush Katif buildings be destroyed, and that the idea of destroying buildings in Rafah would be absolutely unacceptable to the international community.